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It was a defining image of the Great Recession: floundering college grads stuck back home,
living in mom and dad’s basement. But while rooted in some truth, that picture doesn’t show fully
how the prolonged economic downturn broadly impacted people in their early 20s, according to a new
study.

In fact, those degrees offered protection against the recession’s worst effects.

The study, an analysis of U.S. census data by the Pew Economic Mobility Project, makes no claim
recent years have been golden ones for new college graduates.

“But overall,” said Diana Elliott, research manager for the project, “the majority of college
graduates came through the recession with some minor setbacks in the labor markets” — at least in
comparison to those with lesser credentials.

The study contributes to an increasingly voluble national debate over the economic value of a
college degree. It doesn’t factor in the price — a critical variable when families ask if college
is worth it. Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 5 percent this year to
$8,655 this year, according to the College Board, while two-thirds of the graduating class of 2011
finished school with loan debt, borrowing on average $26,600.

Most experts contend that despite tuition inflation, the wage premium for a bachelor’s degree
remains worthwhile, amounting by some calculations to up to $1 million in lifetime earnings on
average. The current unemployment rate is 3.9 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher,
compared with 6.9 percent for those with an associate or some college, and 8 percent for those with
just high school.

The report found that the employment rate for people 21 to 24 years old with a bachelor’s degree
fell from 69 percent before the recession to 67 percent during, and was still down at 65 percent as
of December 2011. But the drops were sharper for those with lower credentials — from 64 percent to
57 percent for those with associate degrees, and 55 percent to 47 percent for those with just high
school.